


For Science

by sten06



Series: Gay Panic One-Shots [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: But she's trying to prove it, Christmas, Earrings, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, POV Multiple, These two idiots being in love, reveal and feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 02:36:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12854913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sten06/pseuds/sten06
Summary: Lena Luthor has a theory, and uses some expensive jewelry to prove it.





	For Science

**Author's Note:**

> Fic/AU where Lena finds out Kara is Supergirl because they always wear the exact same earrings (especially when Lena sees Supergirl wearing the same ones she bought for Kara for Christmas/her birthday/an anniversary.) 
> 
> Thanks @themcgrathofsean for this prompt!!

**LENA**

It starts as a little…experiment. Harmless, really. Just piqued curiosity getting the best of a scientist and deep feelings getting the best of a girl. But Lena Luthor is fairly certain, with almost publication-worthy amounts of data, that Supergirl and Kara Danvers are the same person.

She eventually scrapes enough evidence together to turn this into a full-blown theory.

 **Exhibit A** : The fact that they’ve never been in the same room at the same time. Gala events, L-Corp news conferences, the alien invasion. Never once do the two cross paths, despite similar interests. Similar invitations. Even similar proximity, just never side by side. Yet Supergirl somehow always shows up when Lena needs her, with a penchant for proclaiming her innocence in a very Kara Danvers-esque way. Peculiar.

 **Exhibit B** : The fact that Lena has caught Kara, on too many occasions, slipping up in flustered, adorable sentences that make little to no sense. It’s only after hours, when Lena is alone, replaying their conversations, that the turn of phrase strikes her as odd. She’s confident buses don’t fly, and that Kara doesn’t traditionally drink coffee at midnight. She’s pretty sure “golly” went out of style years ago, and then of course there’s still that small unsolved mystery of the frayed wiring of her alien detection device. Intriguing.

 **Exhibit C** : The fact that no one should be able to eat the amount of junk food that Kara does and look like  _that_. Anyone with a primary diet of pizza, potstickers and donuts should barely be alive, let alone functioning at Kara Danvers’ level of energy. Further, Lena is positive Kara actually goes out of her way to avoid vegetables completely, which is evident by her meltdown over the kale incident at brunch. Lena laughs at the memory, and Kara’s horrified face, but then quickly files it away for later – mostly for how unfair it is that Kara hates kale and somehow still has the abdominals of a god. Well, rumored abdominals. It isn’t like Lena’s really seen them. Or felt them. Or thought about feeling them.

 **Exhibit D** :  ~~The fact that they both have exceptionally strong arms, and happen to give some of the best hugs in the universe, because they’re warm and strong and~~ ….. Maybe not scientifically accurate, but it’s a hypothesis that has been tested under multiple conditions and Lena is secretly adamant about this last fact.

All in all, the evidence is stacked in favor of Kara being Kryptonian, but it’s not enough to keep Lena up at night.

(Fine, it keeps her up at night, but she hardly sleeps as it is.)

But the main piece of evidence, the one that launches this entire investigation?

A pair of earrings.

Several, actually.

Five, to be exact.

Lena tries not to make a habit of noticing everything Kara wears, but attention to detail is something she prides herself on. It’s the scientist in her. Not to mention, she can’t really help it. Kara’s just so  _lovely_  and her hair is so  _golden_  and her face is so  _soft_ …

Lena sighs. It’s really ridiculous how smitten she is with her best friend, and maybe she would be dealing with that more if she wasn’t also semi-convinced that this same best friend is also a super hero. But, such is life. Anyway, earrings. Kara and Supergirl have, on more than one occasion, been known to sport the same pairs of identical earrings. It seems trivial, and Lena has even spent more hours than she cares to admit wracking her brain for the explanation to how Supergirl could even have her ears pierced. (Lena’s conclusion is that it happened on Krypton before arriving to Earth. The only logical explanation).

The first few times it happened, Lena chalked it up to coincidence, because there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the earrings in question. Simple studs, occasional small pearls, nothing out of the ordinary. Perfectly reasonable to expect they might share similar fashion tastes and a modest price range.

But something about it just seemed…off. So, she took fate into her own hands.

Now, it’s just a tradition.

Earrings for birthday presents. Earrings for Christmas. Earrings as ‘thank-you’s’ and earrings as ‘just-because’. Along with her signature bouquets of endless flowers, Lena has single-handedly transformed Kara’s earring collection from sparse to overflowing in the matter of a year. It’s a pretty impressive accomplishment, even if she hasn’t particularly caught Kara in the act yet.

Which is why this year, she’s going for it.

This year, a huge part of her motivation for buying Kara some over the top earrings for Christmas, ones that could never, ever be mistaken for an ordinary pair, are specifically in case a certain caped crusader also decides to wear them. It’s deceptive. It’s sneaky. It’s something a Luthor would do. Except…

The remaining motivation, and some could argue, the majority of it, is that she is hopelessly head over heels in love with Kara, and dropping the equivalent of a rent check on some jewelry doesn’t even come close to showing her true feelings.

But that’s not the point.

~*~*~*~*~

**KARA**

“Lena! I can’t…”

“You  _can_ …”

“I really, really can’t…” Kara sputters, handling the sparkling, flawless and oh so  _expensive_ looking diamond earrings in her hands. She’s already afraid they’re going to break if she looks at them the wrong way, let alone actually putting them on. But Lena’s there, and she’s so sincere and thoughtful and she’s looking at Kara with those eyes, urging her to take them, to just accept them as a gift. A gift! More like the equivalent of her paycheck for the next several months, but Kara can’t say that out loud. She can’t refuse this. In fact, Kara has never been able to say no to that face. Instead she stammers and blushes and fiddles with the box and tries to avoid that look. “They probably cost a fortune!”

Lena quirks her perfectly manicured eyebrow at that, a smooth, smug smile flickering across her lips, before it’s immediately replaced by something softer. Gentler. Concern, but also– doubt? Oh, no, that’s not what Kara wanted. The earrings are perfect. Lena is perfect. But how can she actually accept these?

“Kara, it’s Christmas, and where’s the fun if you can’t just indulge once in awhile?” Lena’s voice is smooth and silky, like Kara’s favorite type of hot chocolate – the kind they sell at Noonan’s with the extra dark chocolate and the extra, extra marshmallows. She eyes the contents of the box once more. They’re spectacular, and it would be rude to say no, right?

“Thank you, Lena, but you didn’t have to do this,” she settles with instead, and the smile is back on Lena’s face, which immediately warms Kara’s chest.

“I know, but I wanted to. You deserve it,” Lena insists, the small crinkle in her forehead prominent, the way it always is when she’s trying to emphasize a point. Mostly when she’s trying to assure Kara of something, which is happening more often these days.

Kara wants to relax and enjoy the moment, but her mind is whirling on super speed, processing what just happened. She chastises herself for the matching ugly sweater idea that was going to be part of  _Lena’s_  Christmas present, scrapping that plan immediately. It’s impossible to follow up diamond earrings with a picture of Grumpy Cat on a sweater, no matter how funny she found it only a few days ago.

What does it all  _mean_?

Alex, for one, is never going to let her hear the end of this. But friends buy each other presents all the time, don’t they? It’s Christmas! She just happens to have a billionaire for a best friend. One with incredible fashion sense and who sometimes forgets the value of a dollar. A gorgeous, brilliant, generous and amazing best friend that perhaps recently she has been harboring some not-so-best-friend feelings for. But it’s Lena, and she’s in a category all her own.

It’s really not that complicated when you think about it.

Sirens go off in the distance interrupting their quiet little moment. National City’s never-ending alarm.

Kara’s heart drops. It’s the reminder of that little secret she’s still keeping from Lena. The one she’s going to have to tell eventually, before she actually tells her that other thing about her feelings.

Okay, so it’s a little complicated.

~*~*~*~*~*

**LENA**

It takes twelve days. Not bad, all things considered, with holiday parties and game nights and wine, so much wine. But it takes twelve days to catch Supergirl with Kara’s diamond encrusted earrings. Another investment, so well worth it.

Lena is back at L-Corp to finish some late night paperwork. Her old office is still the only place she can think clearly when there are pressing deadlines, and fortunately, it’s vacant on account of Lena begging Sam to take a much needed night off.

A familiar breeze rustles outside, before a quiet ‘thump’ signals a visitor landing on the cool concrete floor of the balcony. Lena’s lip involuntarily upticks into a satisfied smile. Her cheeks flush the way they always do in response to a surprise visit from the caped Kryptonian.

“Supergirl!” Lena greets, turning in her chair to face the back door. Supergirl easily walks through. Strong. Confident. Hands on hips, like she belongs here. Lena swallows delicately. “How did you know I was here?”

Supergirl turns and offers a small, playful smile of her own, which Lena takes to mean she isn’t here on any official business.

“The lights haven’t been left on in your office at this hour for months, I knew it had to be you,” she says, striding over slowly. Her hair is perfectly windswept and curled, and Lena barely hears the end of her sentence before she’s imagining what it would be like to run her fingers through it for hours.

There’s silence, as Supergirl eyes her curiously, and Lena immediately snaps out of her dangerously wandering thoughts.

“Guilty,” she says, and it has more than one meaning. She’s about to say something else, something probably intentionally flirtatious, when it happens. She inhales sharply.

Lena has prepared for this moment. She’s rehearsed her movements, and practiced her lines and hell, she’s even dreamed about what it would mean. But when it happens, and the diamonds catch the light just right, twinkling at her from the nest of charmingly golden locks of hair, Lena freezes. Her heart stops.

Kara is Supergirl.  _Her_  Kara is Earth’s champion, the girl of steel. Lena is in love with an actual super hero, and somehow, it doesn’t dawn on her until right this very moment.

A Luthor and a Super, in so many more ways than one.

“Ms. Luthor, is everything okay?” Supergirl’s head tilts in confusion as she looks at her with inquisitive eyes and pouty lips. That doesn’t do anything to help Lena’s mind begin processing coherent thoughts again.

“Oh yes, fine. I was just–” Lena pauses, inhaling a shaky breath. She clenches her jaw. She stands and slowly closes the gap between her and Supergirl. She reaches a trembling hand out slowly and hooks her fingers carefully around Supergirl’s ear, admiring the jewels in question. “Those are some exquisite earrings. You certainly have good taste.”

She thinks to be angry, for a moment. Kara has been  _lying_  to her, after all. But a quick look into those gentle blue eyes – the ones she would recognize anywhere, now that she’s actually looking – and all traces of anger simply disappear.

“Oh I–I um–” Lena can hear the hitch in Supergirl’s breath as her eyes dart from side to side in silent panic. “I borrowed them–from a… a friend…”

“A friend,” Lena deadpans, her eyes trailing over the Super’s stubborn face. Kara isn’t going to make this easy. But Lena isn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“From Kara,” Supergirl corrects.

“She’s incredibly generous,” Lena replies, unconvinced.

“She is,” Supergirl agrees, her voice quieter than normal. “Maybe not as generous as you, though. She told me you um– you gave them to her.”

Lena eyes her cryptically. She wonders if she should start talking about herself in the third person, too. A little bit of that good Luthor snark, just to see how Kara would respond. But she bites her tongue and offers a cool smile instead.

“I did,” Lena says, her confidence growing by the second. “You know, I picked these specifically because they remind me of her eyes.”

“They–they do?” Kara gulps, and Lena takes far too much pleasure in watching her throat bob in nervous tension.

“But I suppose you can get away with wearing them too, you both have such beautiful eyes,” Lena continues, very much aware of the fact that her hand is still cupping the side of Kara’s face, daring her to say something, or back away.

Daring her to move.

~*~*~*~*~*

**KARA**

She knows why she came here.

At least, she thinks she does. But her mind is shockingly blank as she stands in Lena’s office, late at night, with nothing but Lena’s ruby red lips and sly, captivating smile, the one that always seems to be on the verge of spilling an innuendo and setting Kara’s nerves on fire. Kara is getting better at relaxing around Lena, sometimes. But then there’s other moments when her face just looks like  _that_ , and she stands just a little too  _close_  and…

The plan really was to come clean. To tell her about this little side gig of a job she has, and hope to Rao that Lena would understand. It’s just that something else happened to do the talking for her. Apparently, these diamonds really do come with a price. How had she forgotten to take them off?

Lena is looking at her with such an endearing look in her eyes, and her fingers are still tracing over the outline of Kara’s jaw, and everything is so unbelievably warm and her lips look so incredibly soft…

“I can’t do this,” Kara whispers, pulling back from Lena’s grasp and wincing as she does. It’s almost physically painful to position herself out of Lena’s orbit, but it’s necessary. She has to tell her. “Lena, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Lena’s eyes narrow, as her lips purse in thought. She crosses her arms tightly across her body, in a classic Lena pose, the one that makes her seem primed for a rejection. Kara is already wishing she could rewind and start this entire scenario over again. She doesn’t want Lena to feel like this, even for a second.

“It’s…me,” Kara fumbles awkwardly, unsure how to even get these words to sound remotely correct. She wrings her hands and clenches her jaw and shuffles her weight, somehow all at once. “I’m Supergirl. I mean, I’m Kara. Kara is Supergirl. I’m…”

Lena softens immediately, dropping her arms to her sides. She smiles, shaking her head gently, as her eyes scan the ground. They flutter up eventually to meet Kara’s own. She’s grinning that dimpled grin, the one she gets when she’s genuinely happy, and Kara can’t help but mirror the same face because it’s so much better than yelling. “I’m…so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner…” Kara offers, still, just to be safe.

“Finally,” Lena chuckles, her eyes sparkling in pleasant amusement. “I really thought I’d have to buy you earrings forever.”

An awkward laugh escapes Kara’s throat.

“Finally?” Kara asks, stunned. “You mean you knew? How?”

“Well, I had my reasons, which I can certainly talk you through at some point,” Lena grins mischievously, and Kara begins to realize this has been going on for much longer than she ever expected. “But I have to admit, it was the earrings that tipped me off. You and Supergirl have worn the same earrings consistently. I sort of took it from there.”

Kara can feel her cheeks burning in embarrassment as she registers just exactly how she’s been had. Lena is still looking at her with a strange expression, like she’s seeing Kara for the first time. She is, in a way, Kara reasons. But there’s something more behind that look. Lena shifts and smiles.

“Is there anything else, Kara?” she asks, her lips forming around her name slowly and purposefully. It makes Kara’s heart flutter nervously.

There are several beats of maddening silence, or what would be silence if Kara could get the thunderous sounds of chaotic heartbeats out of her head. She can’t decide if it’s hers, or Lena’s, or both, but it’s an encouraging sign that they both seem to be a little on edge. She needs to just…say it.  _I’m Kara, I’m also Supergirl, and I’m also in love with you_. There. She’s already halfway there.

“Go out with me!” she blurts instead, completely unprovoked. Nailed it.

Lena looks startled for a second, registering Kara’s brash command before her lips twist in knowing contemplation.

“I mean, I’d really like to take you out, like, on a date. With me.” Kara clarifies. Slightly better, but not by much.

Lena takes a step forward, putting herself inches from where Kara is standing. She replaces her hand back along the side of Kara’s face, where it’s still burning from the ghost of her fingertips a few minutes earlier. Her eyes slowly draw from Kara’s lips to her eyes and back again, seeking a small confirmation before closing the gap between them for good. Kara’s hands immediately wrap around her waist, pulling her in as close as possible. She doesn’t even realize she’s floating until she feels Lena smile against her lips.

“Is that a yes?” Kara whispers along Lena’s mouth once her feet manage to touch the ground again.

Lena kisses her deeper, nodding into Kara’s grip, the smile never leaving her face.

“Does this mean no more earrings?” Kara asks, her brow furrowing in thought when they both finally come back up for air. She really does like the way Lena picks out the nicest jewelry, even if Kara doesn’t have a prayer to ever return the favor.

Lena laughs, and the sound of it makes Kara smile so hard, her cheeks ache.

“I think we can come up with an arrangement,” Lena acknowledges, kissing Kara’s cheek once more. “There’s always anniversaries, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> you know the drill, come raise a glass to everyones favorite sexy billionaire @stennnn06


End file.
